Stockbridge Valley beats Hamilton 3-2 in girls volleyball semifinal

The top-seeded Cougars defeated Hamilton's girls volleyball team 25-19, 27-29, 25-21, 20-25, 25-23 in Tuesday's Class D semifinal at Clinton High School. Coach Ray Webb's team broke open a tight first game with a 7-0 run at the end, fell victim to some clutch serving by the Emerald Knights at the of the second game, built a huge lead in the third then held on, fell victim to a rally in the fourth then won a tense fifth game to improve to 15-0.

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The victory puts the Cougars into Saturday's 10:00 a.m. title match against league rival Cincinnatus at Chittenango.

"They wear you out," a happy and relieved Webb said after the marathon affair. "Hamilton has been our nemesis."

Stockbridge Valley had more balance on offense while Clara and Eme Jones amassed 38 of Hamilton's 43 kills to keep their team in contention all night. But at the end it was Meriah Beauvais' play that staked the Cougars to a big lead in the fifth game and her perfectly placed hit on the last point that ended the match.

The first game saw neither team taking a lead larger than three points until the end. Beauvais and Justiss Usborne had kills to start the clinching run then Sam Yates had two aces at the end to deny Hamilton's comeback hopes.

Coach Dennis Roy's team would not be denied a comeback in the second game, though. Play went back and forth all the way and Stockbridge valley had the first chance to win at 24-23. Clara Jones had a kill to save Hamilton and traded aces with the Cougars' Nicole Jacobs to help get the score to 27-26 for the top seed.

A spiking error by the Cougars knotted the score, Eme Jones tipped for a point then Carrie VonMuench had an ace to get Hamilton even at 1-1.

In the third game, Hamilton (13-5) fell behind 23-11 then staged a furious rally with Clara Jones having three aces and Eme Jones a kill to make it 23-20 before Kelsey Kinney closed the game with a kill for Stockbridge Valley. The Cougars were ahead 18-15 in the fourth game before Clara Jones had three aces to spark a 9-0 run that made things interesting. Kinney ended the drama with a kill for Webb's team

The Joneses and VonMuench led Hamilton on offense in the fourth game, and Hannah Bodnar was steady as always setting up almost every kill. VonMuench had two aces and Eme Jones had two kills in the 8-0 run late in the game that shifted the momentum.

Beauvais almost single handedly grabbed it back for the Cougars at the start of the fifth game with two blocks, a kill and an ace and her team went ahead 7-1 and 9-2 before Hamilton began to claw back into the match. Yates had two kills midway in the game to help her team stay ahead but Eme Jones had a kill on the Cougars' first match point at 24-19. Two errors by Stockbridge Valley and a clever shoot by Clara Jones got Hamilton one point away from tying the match. Beauvais then had her clinching kill to end Hamilton's dream of a fifth straight trip to the Section III finals.

"I expected it to be a tough match," Cougars senior Lisa Curtis said. "It was very nerve-wracking."

That it was, but more so for Hamilton at the end.

"If you can't serve you can't win," Roy said of a key to the match. "They stepped theirs up at the end. And we didn't hit really well tonight. I don't know why."

Beauvais, Yates and Kinney teamed for 31 of the winner's kills. The 5-foot-10 Kinney added 14 blocks and Usborne had 35 assists to pace the winners.